‘Touched By An Angel’ Roma Downey To Receive Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame

Actress Roma Downey, best known for her work on CBS’ Touched By an Angel, will be honored this Thursday, August 11 with her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As the recipient of the 2,586th star, Downey is being recognized in the category of television. Her star will be placed next to the star that belongs to her husband, Mark Burnett.

“We are thrilled to honor Roma Downey. She has been a force in the business of entertainment, both as an actress and talented producer,” said Hollywood Chamber President and CEO Leron Gubler.

Gubler will be on hand to unveil the star along with special guest speakers that include her husband, actress Della Reese (who co-starred with Downey on Touched By An Angel), and Pastor Rick Warren.

During Downey’s nine years of appearing on Touched By an Angel, she received numerous Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her role of Monica. Downey and Reese both appeared in all 209 episodes of the show. They were joined by John Dye who appeared in 188 episodes. Later in 2001, the show added Valerie Bertinelli (46 episodes) and later Alexis Cruz (16 episodes).

Roma’s other acting credits include playing the role of Jackie Kennedy Onassis for the six-hour NBC miniseries, A Woman Named Jackie and more recently, the mother of Jesus for the miniseries The Bible as well as the film, Son of God.

Roma serves as president of LightWorkers Media, the faith and family division of MGM as well as the Chief Content Officer for MGM’s Over-The–Top (OTT) initiative for Southeast Asia’s iFlix TV startup. Roma is also a spokesperson for the volunteer organization “Operation Smile,” which gives medical surgeries to children with facial deformities at no cost.

Roma Downey married her husband Mark Burnett, in 2007 who refers to her as his best friend. Burnett is known for creating some of television’s most popular reality shows including Survivor, The Apprentice, and Shark Tank. Together, Downey and Burnett have produced some of Hollywood’s most ambitious faith-based programming including A.D. The Bible Continues, The Dovekeepers, the TLC series Answered Prayers, last year’s football movie Woodlawn the upcoming remake of Ben-Hur.

“The latest Ben-Hur, opening nationwide August 19, does not try to compete with the 57-year-old version, which is well-known to an older crowd and anyone who has seen it on numerous TV broadcasts,” states the Burlington County Times.

“The story is approached from a different angle without disrespecting the original. It also seeks to reach a younger generation that may be unfamiliar with the previous versions … There are subtle changes from the 1959 storyline. In that film, Judah and his rival, Messala, were childhood friends. In the remake, they are brothers. Messala is the adopted one. In the chariot race scene, the 1959 film ends with Messala’s death. In the remake, while Messala loses the lower part of one of his legs, he and Judah are reconciled following a dramatic scene in which Judah witnesses the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth and falls to his knees before him. His desire for revenge against his brother for turning him into a slave leaves him, and he and Messala are reconciled.”